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  [How Many Roads is] elegant and judicious, and far and away the most coherent biography Dylan has yet had . . . Would that all critical biographies were so smart and sharp. However many roads there are, here’s one you need to travel.

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  The Oldie

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  With How Many Roads, Peeples has seemingly achieved the impossible by condensing Dylan’s long, varied and, let’s not forget, ongoing career into one comprehensive and extremely readable volume . . . In a succinct description of his deep respect for traditional American music, Peeples notes that “Dylan has spent the past quarter century crafting new art out of old parts.” Long may he run.

  '

  Shindig

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  According to the Nobel Prize winner himself, there’s a "gazillion" Dylan books. Not many are as important as the newest, How Many Roads: A Life of Bob Dylan by Peeples. It could well become the default Dylan biography . . . A very enjoyable read, How Many Roads is informative, occasionally revelatory. Dylan fans old and new will learn something new from it.

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  Dylan Books

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  Fans will find this to be a fascinating, well-paced read. Refreshingly brisk in its content and structure, How Many Roads is as accessible as it is informative . . . Scott Peeples’ How Many Roads is an impeccably written book – and while no book on Dylan can ever truly be definitive as so much of the man remains a mystery, this one is a succinct overview of his creativity and unparalleled career.

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  Film Juice

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  [A] one-stop account of Dylan’s life and career.

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  International Times

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  This is one of the best Dylan biographies I’ve read. Scott Peeples avoids pitfalls and overreaches in scaling the elusive peak of Mount Dylan – his book is neither hagiography nor hatchet job. This is a fair and balanced account, and Peeples should be commended for his impressive research, perceptive analysis, and well-paced road story about the unlikely odyssey of America’s greatest living artist. Bob Dylan gathers no moss, and neither does How Many Roads.

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  Graley Herren, Professor of English at Xavier University, Cincinnati, and author of Dreams and Dialogues in Dylan’s 'Time Out of Mind'

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  The world of Dylan scholarship seems to have been designed to keep outsiders out – Dylanologists talking to other Dylanologists in their secret Dylan lingo. How Many Roads could not be more different. Peeples brings new energy and insights to this often-rehearsed story. You don’t need to be a Dylan nerd to be welcomed here (though you might well be one by the time you leave). I enjoyed every moment of it.

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  Kevin Dettmar, editor of The Cambridge Companion to Bob Dylan and author of Punk in 50 Pieces: Punk Rock, Post-Punk, New Wave, and the Five Years that Changed Popular Music Forever

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  How Many Roads was impossible to put down, the narrative’s insights and perspectives flowed seamlessly. Scott Peeples’s meticulous research is evident in the rich details, narratives, and reflections on the poet and musician Bob Dylan. This biography is as good as it gets.

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  Javon Jackson, Musician, Composer and Director of the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz Studies at the University of Hartford

Prologue: Mythmaking
1 . 1941–60: Origins
2. 1961–62: Becoming
3. 1962–63: Awakening
4. 1964: Transformation
5. 1965: Electricity
6. 1965–66: Acceleration
7. 1967–68: Withdrawal
8. 1969–71: Reinvention
9. 1972–74: Resurgence
10. 1975–78: Revelation
11. 1978–84: Conversion
12. 1984–92: Restoration
13. 1993–2006: Renewal
14. 2006–26: Multitude

References
Selected Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Photo Acknowledgements
Index

Scott Peeples is Professor of English at the College of Charleston, South Carolina. His previous books include The Man of the Crowd: Edgar Allan Poe and the City (2020) and The Afterlife of Edgar Allan Poe (2004).